from becoming greece. is that anything new? >> not really. i mean, lindsey graham has been at the forefront of many of the republican battles, some of them which he won, the susan rice battle. the important thing to remember is senator graham is up for re-election in 2014, expects a primary challenge for the right. so every time and minute he can spend on national television looking tough against the president is smart. politically for him. the interesting thing to see is whether the fiscal cliff debate will move towards the senate now. we've seen speaker boehner and the president at the center of this for weeks. doesn't look like they can come together. can mitch mcconnell or anyone on the republican sidestep forward in these last nine days remains to be seen. >> david drucker, to you. we had senator chuck schumer saying we were this close to getting a deal done. how close is "this close" now? and what did that entail? >> well, you know, i think it depends on what you think is "this close." from what we can tell, it looked as though speaker